State Legislature advances bill to name stretch of 5 Freeway after Long Beach Fire Capt. David Rosa, who was fatally shot in June

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Firefighters stand near a photo of slain fire Capt. David Rosa at a news conference, Monday, June 25, 2018, in Long Beach, Calif. A retirement home resident shot at firefighters who responded to a report of an explosion at the Southern California facility on Monday, killing the veteran fire captain and leaving a second firefighter and another resident wounded, officials said. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The state Legislature is moving closer to naming a stretch of the 5 Freeway in Orange County after Long Beach Fire Capt. David Rosa, who was shot to death in the line of duty in June, officials said Tuesday, Aug. 14.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 159 would name a portion of the interstate between Camino Las Ramblas and the Ortega Highway, in San Juan Capistrano, as the Long Beach Fire Captain David Rosa Memorial Highway. The Legislature has until Aug. 31 to approve the bill; the next hearing, with the Senate Appropriations Committee, is set for Thursday, Aug. 16.

Rosa, 45, a 17-year veteran of the Long Beach Fire Department, was gunned down and two others were wounded in the early morning of June 25 while responding to an explosion at Covenant Manor, a high-rise senior apartment complex in downtown Long Beach. The man charged with Rosa’s murder, Thomas Kim, 77, died in custody last week. Police said Kim set off the explosion in his apartment in an attempt to kill himself and a neighbor he had been feuding with.

Rosa, who leaves behind a wife and two sons, was remembered by thousands of mourners at a public funeral at the Long Beach Convention Center.

The resolution was co-authored by State Sens. Ricardo Lara, D-Long Beach; and Pat Bates, R-Laguna Niguel.

“When Captain Rosa was not serving the people of Long Beach,” Lara said in a statement, “he was a devoted father and volunteer in his home of San Juan Capistrano. Every time someone drives the Fire Captain David Rosa Memorial Highway, they will know that a firefighter died to protect them, and that is the highest service someone can give our state.”

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Megan Barnes covers crime and public safety for the Press-Telegram. She was previously a city reporter at the Daily Breeze, where she covered the South Bay beach cities and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Before that, she was a freelancer writing about LGBT news and her hometown of San Pedro, where she probably made your latte at Starbucks. She loves iced Americanos and Radiohead and finally got to see them live on the A Moon Shaped Pool tour. It was magical.